"Simon R. Green - Deathstalker Prelude 02 - Ghostworld" - читать интересную книгу автора (Green Simon R)

the Empire. The Empire doesn't like being cut off. So, we're going in to find out what's
happened. Don't frown, esper; it'll give you wrinkles."
"I was just wondering, Captain; well, what is the Investigator doing here?"
"Yeah," said Investigator Frost. "I've been wondering that too."
Silence took his time about answering, openly studying the two women. They made an
interesting contrast. Diana Vertue was short, slender, and golden-haired, and reminded
Silence very much of her mother, Elaine. The young esper had only just turned
nineteen, and had that arrogant innocence that only youth could produce and maintain.
She'd lose it soon enough, trying to maintain law and order and sanity out on the edge
of the Empire, among the newly developed Rim Worlds. There was little civilisation to
be found on the new frontierтАФand even less law, never mind justice.


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Simon R. Green- Deathstalker Prelude 02 - Ghostworld


Investigator Frost was only a few years older than the esper, but the difference between
them was that of the hunter and its prey. Frost was tall and lithely muscular, and even
sitting still and at rest, she looked dangerous. Dark blue eyes burned coldly in a pale,
impassive face framed by short-cropped auburn hair. The jolting descent didn't seem to
be bothering her at all, but then, it wouldn't. Investigators were trained to withstand
much worse than this. Which was at least partly why they made such efficient killers.
Silence realised he'd paused longer than he'd intended. He leaned forward in his chair,
frowning as though he'd just been marshalling his thoughts, knowing even as he did that
he wasn't fooling the Investigator one bit.
"You're here, Investigator, because we don't know what we're going to find when we
get down there. There's always the possibility that Unseeli has been visited by some
new alien species. This is the Rim, after all, where starships have been known to
disappear into the long night, never to be seen again. And aliens are your specialty, are
they not?"
"Yeah," said Frost, smiling slightly. "That's one way of putting it."
"On the other hand," said Silence, "Unseeli is a mining planet, and the metals extracted
here are of vital importance to the Empire. Any number of factions might have an
interest in disturbing production. Which is why I'm overseeing this mission myself."
"If it's that important, why are there only five of us?" asked the marine Stasiak. "Why
not go in mob-handed with a full Security team, surround the Base and then charge in
and hammer anything that moves?"
"Because Base Thirteen controls all the mining equipment on Unseeli," said Silence
steadily. "Systems are already running at barely thirty per cent efficiency. We don't
want to risk damaging the Base and making things even worse. And, as the esper
pointed out, there's always the possibility this is just some new form of cabin fever, and
all the Base personnel need is a nice little chat with the Darkwind's psych department.
We're here to find out what's going on and to report on it, not run a crash-and-burn
mission on the only people who can tell us what's happened."
"Understood, Captain," said the other marine, Ripper. "We'll run this one nice and easy,
by the numbers. No problem."
Silence nodded curtly, and studied the two marines unobtrusively. Lewis Stasiak was
average height and weight, only in his early twenties but already looking hard-used and
running to seed. His hair was a little too long, his uniform rumpled, and his face had a